From Micro to Macro in Sea Ice Modelling #

Kenneth M Golden

13:30 Tuesday in 2Q42.

Part of the Sea ice modelling session.

Abstract #

As a material, sea ice exhibits composite structure on length scales ranging over many orders of magnitude. A principal challenge in modelling sea ice and its role in climate is how to characterize smaller scale structure, such as its fluid brine inclusions, and then use that information to find the effective or homogenized behaviour on larger scales relevant to climate and ecosystem models. The inverse problem of recovering small-scale parameters from bulk measurements is also of interest, like in remote sensing. We’ll give an overview of recent advances on modelling sea ice behaviour over a broad range of scales, including forward and inverse homogenization for two phase and polycrystalline composites, advection diffusion processes, and surface wave propagation through ice-covered seas. We’ll also consider models for the fractal geometry of ponds on melting Arctic sea ice, and for predicting the homogenized dynamics of the marginal ice zone on the scale of the Arctic Ocean. This work is helping to advance how sea ice is represented in climate models, and to improve projections of the fate of Earth’s sea ice packs and the ecosystems they support.